Points paving way to Hawaii
LIZ Blatchford will replot her path to the Kona following her win at Ironman Subic Bay Philippines.
The Gold Coast triathlete secured her second straight win on Sunday, finishing the 3.9km swim, 180km bike ride and 42.2km run in a time of 9 hours 22 minutes and 22 seconds.
It was more than 18 minutes faster than closest rival and fellow Australian Dimity Lee Duke (9:40.45).
“I attacked the race from the start,” Blatchford said.
“I knew I would swim better than most of the girls so I went solid in the swim, established a gap and tried to maintain a steady pace all day because it’s really hot and humid conditions there.
“It was good to cross the line with a comfortable barrier.”
The win came weeks after Blatchford won 70.3 Bussleton, a half-ironman distance consisting of a 1.9km swim, 90km bike ride and 21.1km run.
Blatchford said seeing oneyear-old daughter Mahli and partner Glen 15km into the run leg gave her the energy needed to maintain her lead at the end.
“It was fantastic (seeing Mahli),” Blatchford said.
“I was suffering. You always suffer in an ironman but I knew they would meet me about the halfway point on the run so I used them as motivation to get to that point and I knew I could finish it off then.”
Blatchford was initially planning to race for a fourth Ironman Cairns title at the Asia-Pacific Championships this Sunday but a recent stress fracture in her back made her rethink her schedule of racing.
The 38-year-old said she saw the Philippines race as a greater opportunity to win and gather important points to qualify for the Ironman World Championship, to be held in Kona, Hawaii, on October 13.
“It was tough deciding what race to do,” Blatchford said.
“I flipped between the two about six times in the weeks preceding but to be honest the injury meant I haven’t been able to run much. I only started running again about eight weeks ago and it didn’t give me much time to get ready for a marathon.”